February Update

Slowly but surely we are chipping away at these balances. I think we are on a pretty good track right now. March could be an absolutely amazing month, but trying to not get my hopes up too much. Here's where we stand at the end of this month:
 

Overall starting balance: $62,300.13

Current balance 2/28/13: $58,000.39

Difference: $4,299.74

 
And on the CCs:
 

Starting Balance: $24,500

Current balance 2/28/13: $21,300

Difference: $3,200

 
 
Tonight we go to take our documents to the tax preparation lady. I am hoping that bill is not too scary! DH has been working his tail off and has some good things in the works. Hopefully a few of them pay out in March so we can continue to make great strides on this balance.

7 weeks

Our little bean has had a heartbeat for two weeks now. Last week, arm & leg buds were forming. This week little hands and feet can be seen emerging from the ends of those little buds. And baby is moving around like crazy (or so they say - I won't be able to feel it for awhile yet). He/she also doubled in size to now measure an impressive .5'' long. Our baby is almost completely formed (heart, lungs, brain, bones, eyes, etc)!! Just a few more weeks to go, and then we spend the rest of the time maturing and putting on weight.

I got some belly bands off Amazon to wear when my regular clothes start feeling too tight. For some reason I didn't think it would be appropriate to just walk around at work with my pants unbuttoned ;) But this week my pants are back to buttoning again. Morning sickness has returned this week and stolen my appetite. I lost three of the six pounds I had previously gained. Oh well. I am trying to focus on eating healthy things when I do have an appetite, taking my vitamins, and staying hydrated.

Kansas City got over a foot of snow last Thursday. It's been years since we've gotten that much in one storm. Usually we get 1-3'' at a time. Thursday's storm even brought along thunder-snow. That was pretty cool to see! The forecast is calling for another major storm to hit tomorrow and dump at least another 12''. WHAT??! I don't think there has been a winter this snowy since I was very little. Maybe on Tuesday when it stops I will take Aly out to play in it. So far she's not been too interested. We brought in a bowl of snow to make ice cream with & let her play with the rest of it. After a couple quick feels she wanted nothing else to do with it. But she does love looking out the front window at the huge piles everywhere.

5 Weeks - Blueberries

That's all I want to eat. I get ridiculously excited about frozen blueberries. I eat giant bowl-fulls at a time. My weekly shopping trip consists of buying 8-10 bags and I eat them all in a week.

My child is going to look like this:

I am having difficulty buttoning my pants already. I swear muscle memory has kicked in and my belly is popping already. Good thing I ordered those new Belly Bands and started picking up the maternity clothes! This is crazy.

Rebuilding a wardrobe

After I had Aly, a young lady in our church became pregnant unexpectedly. In an effort to help her out I offered to let her borrow my maternity clothes since she's about the same size. Unfortunately, when trying to return the clothes to me, she placed the box in an area of the church where it was mistaken for a donation to the local homeless shelter :( So all of my clothes were donated. I know they went to someone else who could probably really use them, but it made me sad too. I really liked a few of those things!

So now it is time to rebuild my maternity wardrobe. This time around my work environment is much more formal so I will need more dressy items as well. DH and I popped over to Target after church today and I got some great finds! A pair of dress pants and two dresses for $30. Yay! I plan to go by every couple of weeks and snatch up the good clearance deals I find.

I am trying to carefully plan the pieces I buy to save money. Fortunately, spring, summer and fall are all pretty warm here so I just need a few basic layering pieces. Once I get the basics, I can always use different accessories and shoes to change up the outfits (things I can continue to use after I am no longer pregnant). Here's a great capsule wardrobe idea I found:

I can also wear several of my current sundresses once it warms up. Just pair them with some leggings (for the shorter dresses), a sweater, and a cute belt over the belly, like this:

Or even belted under the belly, like this:

Now it just needs to warm up. Looking at all the sundresses makes me want to dig some out from the back of the closet!!

February Update!

This is a pretty great update! DH's payment came through on 1/31 so we were able to pay off the small loan in full. I have already scheduled the $220 in monthly payments to hit the smallest BT and paid off almost $300 on that already! Whoo Hooo!
 

Overall Progress:

1/1/2013: $62,300.13

1/29/2013: $60,555.65

2/6/2013: $58,359.35

Difference: $3,940.78

 

Credit Cards ("Race")

1/1/2013: $24,500.00

1/3/2013: $24,103.51

1/21/2013: $23,300.24

2/6/2013: $21,550.00

Difference: $2,950.00

 
I can not believe that we paid off almost $4,000 in just over a month (mainly thanks to DH bringing in some big cases). It is exciting to see our efforts FINALLY starting to pay off and balances going in the right direction. Although, we may have hit a small snag. We just got those elusive two lines to show up  Given my history I am trying to not get too excited just yet, but we are starting to plan for insurance deductibles & savings for maternity leave.
 
On the house front, DH and I went to look at the neighborhood we love last weekend. There is a new builder in the subdivision and we went to check out his houses. We LOVE them! Of course they have the same basic options (2 story, 1.5 story, or 1.5 story reverse), but this take on them is much more modern and appealing. We talked with the builder's agent for awhile at one of the homes. Turns out the builder is doing trades to help get people into the new neighborhood. BUT - he's only accepting trades on houses worth less than $100,000 as they are easier for him to turn over. WOW! That is exactly what we need! And the builder is willing to work with people up to 18 months out! We had planned to move into a new house next summer, so this option would be perfect for us. Actually, if they take our house as a trade, we may even be able to move sooner since that is the main thing holding us back right now.
 
Ahh. Such an exciting, and nerve-wracking, past couple of weeks. Hoping the next few go smoothly and everything turns out well.